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Cressida Dick gives her first interview since becoming Commissioner of the Met Police.

Cressida Dick has spoken publicly about her same-sex relationship in a revealing interview with the Evening Standard.

The first female Commissioner of the Met Police revealed that she is in a relationship with a response team inspector called Helen who works at a south London police station.

Dick described herself as “a very happy person” with “a lovely life” and “a warm, close family who for generations were involved in public service”.

After studying at Oxford University, Dick was initially rejected by the Thames Valley Police. She applied again and made an extra effort to compensate for her 5 foot 4 height:

“I had to literally hang from the bannisters for a week and I have a feeling that the nurse who measured me may have done me a favour and I probably squeaked in at best.”

She also spoke about the aftermath of the Westminster terror attack, her plans to crackdown on violence in London and gender equality. She said:

“I do believe that one of the great things that has happened in my working life is the extraordinary change in the position of women. However, that is not where it should be, yet. There is pay inequality.”

She is keen to use her role to encourage other women to pursue a career in the male dominated profession of policing.

“To change the whole face of the Met takes a long time. We should have higher rates of women — this is London. I want us to be leading in every way. I am just as interested in diversity of thought as I am on visible characteristics.”

The Evening Standard concluded the interview by saying that Cressida Dick is “a thoroughly modern Met Commissioner” – “a police officer who is Oxford-educated, female, gay and experienced in new crimes such as cyber warfare”.

 

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